Session: #455

Content:

Knappable stones, like flint or obsidian, are unusual kinds of raw material. Thanks to various properties they influence the senses with color, texture, degree of transparency; used - they produce sound, react with other materials or signal their origin. Their processing is an acquired ability, a generational process, an important skill in the group, prestigious and universal. They can be transported, given a cultural or symbolic meaning, but most importantly, they can be shaped and adapted to different tasks or granted many functions. Knapping and tools made of corresponding stones accompanied the transformation of humankind from its beginning until the overall generalisation and its replacement with metal working and metal tools. Since, the technological approaches and various needs changed, it can be concluded that with time and humans, other factors were binding. Despite differences, some regularity can be detected and cross-cultural techniques or similar technological, and morphological solutions, applied regardless of time and space, are among them. It is particularly noticeable in Neolithic, where not only Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic influences are visible, but also technological novelties, the continuation of which can be seen in later periods. The aim of the session is to answer on how to consider the attributes of lithic artefacts, what they are informing us about and how they communicate the abilities and capabilities of particular groups. This leads to the questions on how they should be considered when they are compared. In order to respond to this thesis, cultural, technological and functional considerations will be helpful. Their task will be to explain the knapped stones phenomenon and their various evolutions in the context of the environment, time and economic, behavioral and cultural habits of a particular community. The early stages of the Bronze Age were set as the time limit of the session.

Session: #455

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